Blog (Conservation)

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In Praise of Dark Skies
In Praise of Dark Skies
April 17, 2023

When I take clients out on northern lights tours, there is a period of waiting. Once on location, we wait, looking up at dark skies, longing for that first sign of aurora appearing as a pale arc band across the northeastern sky...

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Is the EPA's
Is the EPA's "Final Determination" the Final Word for Bristol Bay?
January 30, 2023

In 2010, a group of Alaska Native tribes, commercial fishermen and others petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to exercise its authority under the Clean Water Act to stop the mine. Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act authorizes the EPA to prohibit, restrict, or deny the use of any defined area in waters of the United States as a disposal site whenever it determines, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, that the discharge of dredged or fill material into the area will have an unacceptable adverse effect on fishery areas (including spawning and breeding areas)...

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National Bird Day - What should we celebrate?
National Bird Day - What should we celebrate?
January 5, 2023

My maternal grandmother was a bit of a stickler for grammar. So when I see the title National Bird Day, my grammar-sense kicks in. Are we celebrating our National Bird, the Bald Eagle, or are we as a nation celebrating birds in general?

The correct answer, of course, is the latter - we celebrate our love for birds as a nation...

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Bristol Bay One Step Closer to Protection
Bristol Bay One Step Closer to Protection
December 2, 2022

Whenever I give presentations outside of Alaska, I always ask the audience, “How many of you like salmon?” Most hands in the room go up. Then I ask, “How many of you have heard of Copper River Reds?” Many of the hands still remain up...

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Reflections on Earth Day
Reflections on Earth Day
April 22, 2021

Astronaut photograph AS17-148-22727, the first "Blue Marble" photo, taken on December 7, 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. Courtesy of the NASA Johnson Space Center (public domain)

I was born into the environmental equivalent of a horror movie, at that time when you realize that there is a threat but you don't know what to do about it...

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Ambler Road and the Destruction of Arctic Wilderness
Ambler Road and the Destruction of Arctic Wilderness
April 23, 2020

"The only words I had to say were simple after all — and only what this land has taught me. There is nothing worse they could do: for our land, for the caribou, for the people here, for our subsistence lifestyle; for our nation, and our world...

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